read someone the riot act
- read someone the riot act
- read (someone) the riot act
to strongly warn someone to stop behaving badly.
Alice read Randi the riot act, telling her, “If you don't like it here, you can just go back where you came from.”
The secretary of state said she plans to read the riot act to the country's leaders during meetings next week.
Related vocabulary: lay down the law
Etymology: based on the Riot Act (= an English law of 1715 that provided a way to deal with a crowd of people who were causing trouble)
New idioms dictionary.
2014.
Look at other dictionaries:
read someone the riot act — read (someone) the riot act see ↑riot, 1 • • • Main Entry: ↑read read (someone) the riot act : to speak in an angry and critical way to (someone who has done something wrong) : to tell (someone) that bad behavior will be severely punished if it… … Useful english dictionary
read someone the riot act — read (someone) the riot act to speak angrily to someone about something they have done and warn them that they will be punished if they do it again. He d put up with a lot of bad behaviour from his son and thought it was time to read him the riot … New idioms dictionary
read someone the riot act — If you read someone the riot act, you give them a clear warning that if they don t stop doing something, they will be in serious trouble … The small dictionary of idiomes
read (someone) the riot act — phrase to warn someone that they will be punished if they do not stop behaving badly Thesaurus: to warn someone about or against somethingsynonym Main entry: riot … Useful english dictionary
read someone the riot act — If you read someone the riot act, you give them a clear warning that if they don t stop doing something, they will be in serious trouble. (Dorking School Dictionary) … English Idioms & idiomatic expressions
Read someone the riot act — If you read someone the riot act, you give them a clear warning that if they don t stop doing something, they will be in serious trouble … Dictionary of English idioms
read someone the Riot Act — give someone a severe warning or reprimand. [from the name of a former act partly read out to disperse rioters.] → riot … English new terms dictionary
read someone the riot act — give someone a strict scolding, reprimand strongly … English contemporary dictionary
read someone the riot act — idi to reprove or warn someone sharply … From formal English to slang
read the riot act — read (someone) the riot act to strongly warn someone to stop behaving badly. Alice read Randi the riot act, telling her, “If you don t like it here, you can just go back where you came from.” The secretary of state said she plans to read the riot … New idioms dictionary